Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Ahmad Mozafari ¹
• Mahmoud Edalati ²

¹ Master's student, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ilam, Ilam, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ilam, Ilam, Iran.

Abstract

Bending plates are among the most fundamental components employed in structural analysis. Despite significant advances in numerical methods, the accurate reproduction of both bending and shear behavior of plates remains a major challenge in plate analysis. The high sensitivity of thin, thick, and very thick plates to issues such as shear locking, the choice of shape functions, and the compatibility of strain fields has motivated continuous research efforts aimed at developing reliable bending plate elements.
In this study, the accuracy and stability of the proposed shape function for the triangular bending plate element ME30, based on the Mindlin–Reissner theory, are evaluated in the analysis of plates and slabs subjected to concentrated loads. The proposed element consists of 10 nodes with 3 degrees of freedom per node and is capable of reproducing transverse shear deformations in a compatible manner. Numerical results for thin steel plates, moderately thick concrete slabs, and very thick slabs demonstrate the convergent behavior of the proposed formulation and its strong agreement with analytical solutions and established numerical formulations. Furthermore, the evaluation of deflection and bending moments confirms the effectiveness of the ME30 shape function in accurately capturing the bending response of plates with varying geometries and thicknesses. The findings indicate that the proposed model can be regarded as a reliable and robust approach for the numerical analysis of bending plates subjected to concentrated loads.

Keywords

• Shape function
• Triangular element
• Bending plate
• Shear deformation
• Concentrated load

Main Subjects

• structure